A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Via Daily Dharma / Who Are You?
If
I were really asked to define myself, I wouldn’t start with race; I
wouldn’t start with blackness; I wouldn’t start with gender; I wouldn’t
start with feminism. I would start with stripping down to what
fundamentally informs my life, which is that I’m a seeker on the path.
—bell hooks, "Agent of Change: An Interview with bell hooks"
—bell hooks, "Agent of Change: An Interview with bell hooks"
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Via Daily Dharma / The Heart Holds Two Truths
Take
refuge in the dharma when you’re hurting; gain perspective; expand your
capacity for empathy; uncover the biases you carry within yourself; and
also see all arisings as empty. And then, see with complexity, and hold
both conventional and ultimate truths in your heart.
—Jay Michaelson, "Retreat or Fight? Both are Right."
—Jay Michaelson, "Retreat or Fight? Both are Right."
Via Daily Dharma / Not-blaming
When
you check your own mind properly, you stop blaming others for your
problems. You recognize that your mistaken actions come from your own
defiled, deluded mind.
—Lama Thubten Yeshe, "Your Mind is Your Religion"
—Lama Thubten Yeshe, "Your Mind is Your Religion"
Via Daily Dharma / Embrace Each Error
Anyone
has the right to be a Buddhist, no matter. There is no need to be afraid
of having faults, because knowing we have them can help us to improve.
—Master Sheng-Yen, "How to Be Faultless"
—Master Sheng-Yen, "How to Be Faultless"
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Via Ram Dass
There
is no drama any manifestation can present that denies the truth of the
fact that behind the drama, here we are; no matter how poignant,
captivating, dramatic, bittersweet it may be. Our work is to not get
snared in anybody else’s or our own drama; be it police, or the person
who’s suffering.
Can you accept total suffering, take on the karma of another human being, and yet not be attached to the melodrama of suffering? If a person is suffering, the only thing you can do for them is to find the place in them which is behind suffering. It’s all you can do. It’s all that’s available.
Can you accept total suffering, take on the karma of another human being, and yet not be attached to the melodrama of suffering? If a person is suffering, the only thing you can do for them is to find the place in them which is behind suffering. It’s all you can do. It’s all that’s available.
Via Daily Dharma / Everyone Is Welcome
Anyone has the right to be a Buddhist, no matter what they believe.
—Robert Thurman, "Reincarnation: A Debate"
—Robert Thurman, "Reincarnation: A Debate"
Monday, January 2, 2017
Via Daily Dharma - 02/02/16
The
Buddha taught that freedom is going beyond conditions. For me, the
people who have been through the harshest conditions—and survived—have
the greatest potential to transform the madness of their lives.
—Vinny Ferraro, "The Heartful Dodger"
—Vinny Ferraro, "The Heartful Dodger"
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Via Daily Dharma / December 31, 2016: Cherishing Existence
|
This
is who and what we are: constellations of matter, vulnerable,
impermanent, and—for moments? for lifetimes?—illumined by the miracle of
awareness. Whether fleeting or eternal, it’s a miracle that we must
never take for granted.
—Noelle Oxenhandler, "Awake and Demented"
—Noelle Oxenhandler, "Awake and Demented"
Via FB
"Trump courted evangelicals and promised to appoint judges to overturn
the historic Obergefell ruling on marriage equality (and he has publicly
opposed marriage equality since 2000). Even if you believe he wouldn’t
do that, why would you give even conditional support to a man who has
given hope to the people who detest you and wish you harm?"
- Michelangelo
Signorile
Via Ram Dass
At
a certain point, you realize that you see only the projections of your
own mind. The play of phenomena is a projection of the spirit. The
projections are your karma, your curriculum for this incarnation.
Everything that’s happening to you is a teaching designed to burn out
your stuff, your attachments. Your humanity and all your desires are not
some kind of error. They’re integral parts of the journey.
Via Daily Dharma / January 1, 2017: A New Year’s Resolution
|
I
intend to cultivate equanimity and balance—not to panic when things
appear to be off track, and not to relax when everything seems to be
going smoothly. I intend to cultivate awareness and presence and not
focus too hard on the outcome—paying more attention to the process and
developing understanding and sympathy for myself and others.
—David Nichtern, "A New Year's Resolution to Consider"
Friday, December 30, 2016
Via Daily Dharma / December 30, 2016: Leading the Charge
|
Individually,
we might feel that global problems are beyond our capacity to solve.
What I have noticed, though... is that if one or two people take the
lead in making even small changes, it energizes the whole community.
—Joseph Goldstein, "Facing the Heat"
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Via Daily Dharma / December 29, 2016: The Binding Thread
A
string of beads has a thread running through all the beads, keeping
them together. What we need is a thread too—of sanity and stability.
Because when you have a thread, even though each bead is separate, they
hang together.
—Sogyal Rinpoche, "The Stability of Ease"
—Sogyal Rinpoche, "The Stability of Ease"
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